


Summer Storms

by rangerhitomi



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gen, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-14 20:39:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3424826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerhitomi/pseuds/rangerhitomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuma is fascinated by storms and tries to share his interest with Astral.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Storms

The sky darkened by the minute as the winds roared through the tall grass on the hillside where a young man lay peacefully. He breathed deeply, the cool scent of pre-rain wind filling his nose. He loved that smell. He loved the way the warm summer wind on his face felt like warm breath, the way the tickle of the grass felt against his skin. The best feeling of all was the patter of rain on his body. It made him feel clean, refreshed. He waited patiently for the skies to open up, to douse him in fresh water.

“This storm looks strong.”

Yuma glanced over at the spirit sitting on the hillside next to him, gazing skeptically at the swirling clouds.

“That’s the point,” Yuma explained.

“To sit on an exposed hillside while potentially violent winds and flashes of powerfully charged electricity rage overhead?” Astral didn’t seem to understand the allure of storm watching. It seemed far more dangerous than some of the other things Yuma usually got up to.

Yuma spread his arms out and closed his eyes as he fell back onto the grass. The wind whipped through his shirt, tossing his loose tie around. The long grass, riled by the wind, tickled his face and arms. “My father used to teach me about nature,” he said, his quiet voice barely audible over the whistling wind. “It’s unpredictable, sometimes violent. Sometimes storms rip up trees and level houses and catch forests on fire. But other times-“

A clap of thunder cut him off, and Astral jumped slightly. First, a small drizzle of rain fell on them, then, as a flash of light streaked across the sky, the rain came down like a waterfall.

Yuma’s clothes were soaked through in seconds, his hair plastered to his face. And yet, Astral noted, he had a content smile on his face as he sprawled out on the grass.

“Does it… feel good?”

Yuma opened his eyes and turned toward Astral. The spirit sounded curious, with a hint of longing. He, of course, couldn’t feel the rain, Yuma realized. He didn’t know what it was like to enjoy a storm more than by what he could see and hear.

“It’s wonderful.”

“Tell me about it.”

So Yuma explained, over the deafening thunderclaps and roaring wind and rushing rain. He explained the feeling of the grass, the taste of the unsoiled water, the smell of the wet earth. How the rain made him feel clean and renewed. Astral leaned back on the grass and tried to imagine these sensations. He couldn’t feel, smell, or taste in his regular form. He remembered experiencing them for the first time when he fused with Yuma, as Zexal. It made it a little easier to imagine what these feelings Yuma described might be like.

The storm passed quickly, and within half an hour the rain had slowed and then stopped. The clouds dispersed as they moved steadily eastward.

Yuma was soaked to the bone, shivering violently in the cooler wind, but he smiled at Astral as he brushed his hand over the gently waving grass. “And now the world is new.”

Astral looked at the ground curiously, at the drops of rain clinging to the grass, at a worm that had wriggled its way to the surface of the thick, moist soil. He heard birds chirping nearby. He understood. The rain gave birth to new plants and fed old ones, which in turn became food for insects and birds.

This world amazed him sometimes.

Yuma pointed wordlessly upward, and he saw a ray of sunlight shine through a break of clouds. It reflected off the misty air and formed a multicolored arch that stretched as far as he could see into the sky.

“Someday, when you have your memories back, and a body, you should come back here so you can feel the storm with me.”

Astral gazed at the rainbow and smiled as Yuma climbed to his feet and shook water off his clothes and out of his hair, teeth chattering. He didn’t know if he would ever get his memories back, or if he would get a body of his own. He didn’t know if his real form was solid, humanlike, or insubstantial like his current self. Maybe this  _was_  his real body. But he wanted to believe he would enjoy something as simple, yet so intermingled with the world, as a storm.

“Of course.”


End file.
